


you can try to smooth me down

by noahliza



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Heavy Angst, M/M, Not a Threesome Fic, One-Sided Relationship, ill add more tags as I go, keith pines for shiro, lance pines for keith, mentions of the other characters ill add them to the tags if it becomes more
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 19:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8026048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahliza/pseuds/noahliza
Summary: Keith and Shiro had been extremely close since they first met. Originally, they were like brothers. As Keith grew, his feelings did as well.





	you can try to smooth me down

**Author's Note:**

> "Hard to read and hard to speak to  
> But don’t take my word  
> Cause I’m honestly so bored of being  
> Misunderstood, I’m not"  
> Pusher/Mothica - Clear

Takashi Shirogane was the first constant in Keith’s life. 

He politely introduced himself as Keith’s new neighbor when he caught Keith watching him outside. He’d initially been taking in his new surroundings - he was moving into his fifth foster home now at twelve years old; and he felt dazed by how quickly he’d been let into and taken out of his last one. Everything was moving too fast for him. But at least they’d promised to keep him in the same area now if he had to move house again, if he was in the same school it might be easier on him.

School was actually the farthest thing from his mind right now, it was summer break, and how could he think about that with what seemed like a genuinely nice grownup shaking his hand and welcoming him to the neighborhood? It was so much different than every other adult he’d met so far, with their fake smiles that faltered once they realized Keith wasn’t what they wanted. Takashi Shirogane seemed to radiate true friendliness. Keith felt like he could trust this man.

The two grew very close over the summer, Keith making sure they spent almost every day together. He talked to Shiro - Takashi’s nickname - about anything and everything. It felt like how having an older brother probably was. He’d learned early on that Shiro was only home for the summer, he was in an elite spaceflight training school called the Galaxy Garrison. He’d learned that Shiro was 19 years old - 7 older than himself. He’d learned that he was right about Shiro, he was a truly kind person, what a grownup should be like. 

He’d learned that his foster parents were already growing disappointed in him by summer’s end. They’d started nagging him halfway through the break, asking why he wouldn’t go out and try to make friends with the other kids his age. They thought it was strange that he was spending all his time with Shiro, and were amazed that he ‘had the patience to put up with a kid every day at his age’. Keith brushed it all off, figuring they just wouldn’t understand the bond the two of them shared.

Soon enough summer break was over. Keith was back in school and Shiro was back at the Garrison. He’d been made time and time again before he left to promise that he’d be back for every break, and that he’d see Keith as much as possible. Keith took these promises to heart, counting the days until he could see Shiro again. He’d also pried as much information about the Garrison from Shiro as possible, telling Shiro that he’d go there too someday. 

Unfortunately, school was a challenge for Keith. While he wouldn’t be moved around any more, it was a new district, which meant the awkward practice of having to introduce himself to his class, having to be the odd one out. He’d halfheartedly promised his foster parents that he’d make friends now that summer was over, but he truthfully had no desire to do so. Moving around so much had made his drive to be friendly disappear over time. He’d grown used to being a loner, and figured remaining that way wouldn’t be a big deal. Even now that he’d be staying here, he had Shiro’s visits to look forward to. He didn’t need friends in school when he had a friend that was like an older brother!

Time moved on, and the two’s bond grew deeper. Shiro somehow managed to keep his promise of seeing Keith on breaks, even when he was shuffled to new foster homes. At fourteen, Keith received his first cell phone, using it mainly to text Shiro when the two had free time, or whenever Keith felt like sending him a message. Sure, he’d gotten it taken for texting in school a few times, but what was the point of having a phone if you couldn’t use it?

The summer when Keith was fifteen, Shiro’s family went on an extended vacation for almost the entire summer break. It was the loneliest he’d felt since he was a kid, before he’d met Shiro. They were out of the country, so he had no way of even contacting him. Growing antsy with solitude, Keith started going out of the house more, sometimes wandering aimlessly around town, sometimes working out his nerves at the local gym. Keith didn’t get to see Shiro during breaks this year either, his schooling at the Garrison was getting more serious, and he needed the time off to help with his studies. Keith had been long thinking about it, but now he’d definitely decided - he’d go to the Garrison when he graduated, following in Shiro’s footsteps.

The Summer when Keith was sixteen, Shiro was able to come home for a few weeks in the summer. He was shocked how much Keith had grown in the year they’d been apart, showering him with compliments, and then praise when Keith told him he’d be aiming to get into the Garrison after high school. Those compliments were the best Keith had ever received, making his heart flutter in a way he hadn’t felt before. Soon Shiro was gone again, back to the Garrison for his final year, and Keith had to resort to texting and the occasional phone call. 

The last two years of high school went by almost like a blur for Keith, devoting himself wholly to his studies - and to keeping close contact as possible with Shiro. This became a bit easier after Shiro graduated from the Garrison, becoming a full-fledged pilot. Without the Garrison’s strict rules for students, phone use was much less of a problem. 

He did it. He got in. Keith had felt like he was floating, he’d been so excited to receive his acceptance letter from the Garrison. He’d called Shiro immediately, who promised to take him to dinner as a congratulation. Dinner turned to an entire night of hanging out and talking about everything and nothing, Keith’s heart swelling with an odd elation. It felt like the fluttering he’d experienced at sixteen, but bigger. Indescribable. 

Keith and Shiro were nearly inseparable at the Garrison - Shiro’s friends making jokes about them secretly being brothers. While Keith spent plenty of time with them as well, they never felt like his friends too. Only Shiro’s. The thought left a painful twinge in his chest, so he tended to push it from his mind. It was fine that Shiro spent time with people other than himself - people that weren’t his friends as well. It was fine. It...wasn’t fine?

Keith pushed himself in his classes. He was already at the top, a ‘true natural’ but it wasn’t enough. He kept pushing for better scores, better results. Forced himself to be more agreeable with classmates. Each time Shiro heard that Keith had gotten a score so high, or had made a new ‘friend’ in class, he would lavish Keith with praise. Test result days were always Keith’s favorite for this reason, so he kept pushing.

Shiro was sent on a mission to Kerberos. It wasn’t going to be a very long mission, he was going to take a couple researchers there to get samples of the ice there. It was going to be fairly routine. Go, get the samples, come home. Step one had been completed: go. But then news came of the crash, pilot error. There was no way. Keith stood stunned, unable to tear his eyes off the tv, unable to leave the room. Unable to keep his emotions in check. 

Within a few months, all of Keith’s work was undone. Years of work. Keith didn’t care any more. He couldn’t. Shiro had been taken from him. The only person he felt comfortable around, the person who made him happy, made his heart lift and flutter. He was gone. Expelled from the Garrison, Keith had no choice but to make it on his own. He was an adult now, he had no more foster families to look to for help. He holed himself up in a little shack in the desert - far away enough from the Garrison that he wouldn’t have to think about it more than he already did - and stayed there. He felt lifeless. Until the day he started feeling a strange energy farther out in the desert. 

Keith’s life picked back up at that energy. He felt a sense of purpose that he hadn’t since Shiro’s disappearance. He couldn’t say death. Refused to say death. And when Shiro came home, crashed near the Garrison, he was glad he hadn’t. Everything moved fast - almost too fast - after that. Almost suddenly they were at his shack again, in the cave that harbored that strange energy, flying out to space in a giant robotic lion. It all felt like a blur, he could only focus on Shiro. Some of his hair had turned white, he had a scar across his face, and one of his arms was a prosthetic. But it was Shiro. He was back. And he still made Keith’s heart flutter.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was heavily inspired by the feel of Shawn Wasabi's mix of "Clear" by Pusher and Mothica. Check it out on youtube if you're curious!!
> 
> Also feel free to drop by ladynikkiliza.tumblr.com or @nikkineedssleep on twitter!!!


End file.
